Monday, October 31, 2016

Announcement: Delay, my new novels can be seen on the internet, but the publisher
has delayed all their fiction output due to the economy. I'll keep you
informed. More information can be found at www.ancientlight.com. Check out my novels--I think you'll really enjoy
them.

Introduction: I wrote the novel Aksinya: Enchantment and the Daemon.
This was my 21st novel and through this blog, I gave you the entire novel in
installments that included commentary on the writing. In the commentary, in
addition to other general information on writing, I explained, how the novel
was constructed, the metaphors and symbols in it, the writing techniques and
tricks I used, and the way I built the scenes. You can look back through this
blog and read the entire novel beginning with http://www.pilotlion.blogspot.com/2010/10/new-novel-part-3-girl-and-demon.html.

I'm using this novel as an example
of how I produce, market, and eventually (we hope) get a novel published. I'll
keep you informed along the way.

Today's Blog: To see the steps in the publication process, visit my
writing website http://www.ldalford.com/ and select "production
schedule," you will be sent to http://www.sisteroflight.com/.

The four plus one basic rules I
employ when writing:

1. Don't confuse your readers.

2. Entertain your readers.

3. Ground your readers in the
writing.

4. Don't show (or tell) everything.

4a. Show what can be seen, heard, felt, smelled, and tasted on the stage
of the novel.

5. Immerse yourself in the world of your writing.

All novels have five discrete parts:

1. The initial scene (the
beginning)

2. The rising action

3. The climax

4. The falling action

5. The dénouement

The theme statement
of my 26th novel, working title, Shape, proposed
title, Essie: Enchantment and the Aos Si,
is this: Mrs. Lyons captures a shape-shifting girl in her pantry
and rehabilitates her.

Here is the cover proposal for Essie:
Enchantment and the Aos Si. Essie is my 26th novel.

Cover
Proposal

The most important scene in any
novel is the initial scene, but eventually, you have to move to the rising
action. I started writing my 28th novel, working title Red Sonja.

I'm an advocate of using the/a scene
input/output method to drive the rising action--in fact, to write any
novel.

Scene development:

1. Scene input (easy)

2. Scene output (a little
harder)

3. Scene setting (basic stuff)

4. Creativity (creative
elements of the scene)

5. Tension (development of
creative elements to build excitement)

6. Release (climax of creative
elements)

How to begin a novel.Number one thought, we need an entertaining
idea.I usually encapsulate such an idea
with a theme statement.Since I’m
writing a new novel, we need a new theme statement.Here is an initial cut.

Red Sonja, a Soviet spy, infiltrates
the X-plane programs at Edwards AFB as a test pilot’s administrative clerk,
learns about freedom, and is redeemed.

Would you like to write a novel that
a publisher will consider?Would you
like to write a novel that is published?How about one that sells?

The
Fox’s Honor
was published in 2008 by then Capstone which became Oaktara publishing.The Fox’s
Honor is second novel in the three novel series, The Chronicles of the Dragon and the Fox.This series of novels is about an
intragalactic conflict in the Human Galactic Empire.I based the culture and society on the
ancient Anglo-Saxons.The leaders in the
culture are based on genetic manipulation for leadership traits.The protagonist of The Fox’s Honor is Devon Rathenberg.Here is his description from the novel:

Of particular interest, to their disdain, were the less choice of the
young gentlemen.Those men who through
valor and accomplishment attained noble standing, yet whose manner pointed
irrevocably to their previous unpolished beginnings.One such gentleman aroused even the looks of
the Duke, and a quaint unsettled quiver of his eyebrows left no doubt of his
thoughts.

This young man was arrayed in colloquial finery.An officer’s uniform, yes, but the style and
the natural materials left little doubt that it and its owner obviously came
from a culturally deprived planet.The
gentleman’s boots were real leather; they creaked.His pants bloused over his boot tops, and as
he walked they swaggered like a Cossack dance.

The seneschal announced the young officer, “Sir Devon de Tieg, Knight of
the Red Cross.”A small number of the
Duke’s less cautious guests let loose a traveling titter that lost its momentum
in a few muffled guffaws.

The knight said nothing.Those
who recognized the order of Knight of the Red Cross instantly sobered, and the
Duke made a second appraisal of the man.

The knight’s eye glinted with
his bold smile, and he strode across the broad floor of the ballroom.His ceremonial dagger clinked against his
left leg, balanced by an oddly shaped cylinder on his right, and his knight’s
spurs jingled with each step.He stopped
with a flourish and a low bow before the Duke, “My lord Falkeep, will you grant
me the privilege of a dance with your daughter, the Lady Tamar?”

Devon Rathenberg is a member of the
aristocracy and the head of the Emperor’s intelligence forces.He is the Fox.I should have mentioned yesterday, Prince
John-Mark was referred to as the Dragon because of his military and leadership
prowess.Devon Rathenberg was referred
to as the Fox because of his leadership and intelligence prowess.Thus, the Chronicles
of the Dragon and the Fox are about the adventures of these two men.

You can see the development of Devon
Rathenberg as a Romantic character.He
is a genius in leadership and intelligence.The problem is that Devon Rathenberg devised a plan to unmask and
capture the enemies of the Empire.The
plan is a duel in which Devon must die.At the same time, Devon wants to declare his love to Tamar Falkeep.The protagonist is Devon Rathenberg, who is a
Romantic character.He loses his honor
and is thought dead from the duel.

There are undertones of pathos in
Devon’s struggles, but the real pathos comes from his protagonist’s helper,
Tamar Falkeep.The point is that Devon
is wholly a Romantic character with little pathos interjected in.Still, the power of pathos in a Romantic
character should be evident and the fact that a protagonist’s helper can add
pathos illustrates a powerful tool for the writer.I should have mentioned that Abenadar in Centurion has a protagonist’s helper,
Ruth, who has a very strong pathos development.The last novel in the series is, A
Season of Honor.

Sunday, October 30, 2016

30 October 2016, Writing Ideas
- New Novel, part 932, Publishing, Protagonists, Example: The End of Honor

Announcement: Delay, my new novels can be seen on the internet, but the publisher
has delayed all their fiction output due to the economy. I'll keep you
informed. More information can be found at www.ancientlight.com. Check out my novels--I think you'll really enjoy
them.

Introduction: I wrote the novel Aksinya: Enchantment and the Daemon.
This was my 21st novel and through this blog, I gave you the entire novel in
installments that included commentary on the writing. In the commentary, in
addition to other general information on writing, I explained, how the novel
was constructed, the metaphors and symbols in it, the writing techniques and
tricks I used, and the way I built the scenes. You can look back through this
blog and read the entire novel beginning with http://www.pilotlion.blogspot.com/2010/10/new-novel-part-3-girl-and-demon.html.

I'm using this novel as an example
of how I produce, market, and eventually (we hope) get a novel published. I'll
keep you informed along the way.

Today's Blog: To see the steps in the publication process, visit my
writing website http://www.ldalford.com/ and select "production
schedule," you will be sent to http://www.sisteroflight.com/.

The four plus one basic rules I
employ when writing:

1. Don't confuse your readers.

2. Entertain your readers.

3. Ground your readers in the
writing.

4. Don't show (or tell) everything.

4a. Show what can be seen, heard, felt, smelled, and tasted on the stage
of the novel.

5. Immerse yourself in the world of your writing.

All novels have five discrete parts:

1. The initial scene (the
beginning)

2. The rising action

3. The climax

4. The falling action

5. The dénouement

The theme statement
of my 26th novel, working title, Shape, proposed
title, Essie: Enchantment and the Aos Si,
is this: Mrs. Lyons captures a shape-shifting girl in her pantry
and rehabilitates her.

Here is the cover proposal for Essie:
Enchantment and the Aos Si. Essie is my 26th novel.

Cover
Proposal

The most important scene in any
novel is the initial scene, but eventually, you have to move to the rising
action. I started writing my 28th novel, working title Red Sonja.

I'm an advocate of using the/a scene
input/output method to drive the rising action--in fact, to write any
novel.

Scene development:

1. Scene input (easy)

2. Scene output (a little
harder)

3. Scene setting (basic stuff)

4. Creativity (creative
elements of the scene)

5. Tension (development of
creative elements to build excitement)

6. Release (climax of creative
elements)

How to begin a novel.Number one thought, we need an entertaining
idea.I usually encapsulate such an idea
with a theme statement.Since I’m
writing a new novel, we need a new theme statement.Here is an initial cut.

Red Sonja, a Soviet spy, infiltrates
the X-plane programs at Edwards AFB as a test pilot’s administrative clerk,
learns about freedom, and is redeemed.

Would you like to write a novel that
a publisher will consider?Would you
like to write a novel that is published?How about one that sells?

The
End of Honor
was published in 2008 by then Capstone which became Oaktara publishing.The End
of Honor is one of my science fiction novels.It’s the first novel in the three novel
series, The Chronicles of the Dragon and
the Fox.This series of novels is
about an intragalactic conflict in the Human Galactic Empire.I based the culture and society on the
ancient Anglo-Saxons.The leaders in the
culture are based on genetic manipulation for leadership traits.The protagonist of The End of Honor is the Prince John-Mark.Here is his description from the novel:

He was really very young, almost as young
as I.In spite of his youthful looks, he
was dressed in the uniform of a major in the Emperor's Huscarls, the Emperor's
private guard.I immediately thought it
odd a lowly major should be conversing with my father in his private study, but
then, I noticed the drapue and gold of a nobleman.Still, my Father had few dealings with
noblemen of so low a rank to be only a major in any force.I wanted to be courteous, and at the same
time find out what he was doing here.

At my words, the major snatched his hand
back in embarrassment.He swayed off
balance in the window for a moment, then caught himself with both hands on the
lip of the sill.He seemed a little
taken aback by my appearance, as though I'd caught him in a forbidden act.

When he didn't answer my initial question,
I repeated myself, "I said, may I help you?"

He smiled.I remembered that smile even to my grave.I remember it now: his eyes, a washed gray
lit like glowing stones.They were as
clear as a spring of water.The corners
of his mouth curled into a hundred expressions at once, then his upper lip
raised slightly showing the tips of his teeth.He sported a mustache and goatee.These accentuated his features and telegraphed the humor in his thoughts
to me.His clear eyes seemed to catch me
like a camera.They at once appraised me
and, like a photograph, cataloged me, frozen in mid-stride.

Prince John-Mark is a Prince.He is also a military leader.He is considered one of the, if not the
premier military leader in the Human Galactic Empire.You can see already, Prince John-Mark has the
makings of a Romantic character.He is
the military leader that every leader wants to be.He is a tactician and strategist of rare
skill.Prince John-Mark is the man you
would want to lead you and whom you would want to have a drink with
afterward.He is skilled in working with
all levels of people, and he is courting the Lady Lyral Neuterra.Prince John-Mark has great plans.He wishes to join with the family Neuterra
and produce a new branch of the House Imperial.His plans are destroyed when his brother murders his fiancée and his
father.

You might imagine that Prince
John-Mark might take on attributes of a pathetic character with the death of
his father and love.He does to a
degree.I might have played on this more
in the novel, but I didn’t want to dilute his power or his tragic nature.There we have it—part of the power of tragedy
is pathos and the Romantic power of the character.The Greeks expected their characters to always
have the quality of dikasune (we translate this as righteousness, but is more
accurately translated balance).The
Greek characteristic of dikasune is similar to our idea of a Romantic
character.Although The End of Honor is not a tragedy, it has tragic overtones.

In this novel, I began to perfect my
development of the Romantic character, and I also began to work on the power of
pathos in the character’s life and revelation.This continues and builds in the next novel, The Fox’s Honor.

Saturday, October 29, 2016

Announcement: Delay, my new novels can be seen on the internet, but the publisher
has delayed all their fiction output due to the economy. I'll keep you
informed. More information can be found at www.ancientlight.com. Check out my novels--I think you'll really enjoy
them.

Introduction: I wrote the novel Aksinya: Enchantment and the Daemon.
This was my 21st novel and through this blog, I gave you the entire novel in
installments that included commentary on the writing. In the commentary, in
addition to other general information on writing, I explained, how the novel
was constructed, the metaphors and symbols in it, the writing techniques and
tricks I used, and the way I built the scenes. You can look back through this
blog and read the entire novel beginning with http://www.pilotlion.blogspot.com/2010/10/new-novel-part-3-girl-and-demon.html.

I'm using this novel as an example
of how I produce, market, and eventually (we hope) get a novel published. I'll
keep you informed along the way.

Today's Blog: To see the steps in the publication process, visit my
writing website http://www.ldalford.com/ and select "production
schedule," you will be sent to http://www.sisteroflight.com/.

The four plus one basic rules I
employ when writing:

1. Don't confuse your readers.

2. Entertain your readers.

3. Ground your readers in the
writing.

4. Don't show (or tell) everything.

4a. Show what can be seen, heard, felt, smelled, and tasted on the stage
of the novel.

5. Immerse yourself in the world of your writing.

All novels have five discrete parts:

1. The initial scene (the
beginning)

2. The rising action

3. The climax

4. The falling action

5. The dénouement

The theme statement
of my 26th novel, working title, Shape, proposed
title, Essie: Enchantment and the Aos Si,
is this: Mrs. Lyons captures a shape-shifting girl in her pantry
and rehabilitates her.

Here is the cover proposal for Essie:
Enchantment and the Aos Si. Essie is my 26th novel.

Cover
Proposal

The most important scene in any
novel is the initial scene, but eventually, you have to move to the rising
action. I started writing my 28th novel, working title Red Sonja.

I'm an advocate of using the/a scene
input/output method to drive the rising action--in fact, to write any
novel.

Scene development:

1. Scene input (easy)

2. Scene output (a little
harder)

3. Scene setting (basic stuff)

4. Creativity (creative
elements of the scene)

5. Tension (development of
creative elements to build excitement)

6. Release (climax of creative
elements)

How to begin a novel.Number one thought, we need an entertaining
idea.I usually encapsulate such an idea
with a theme statement.Since I’m
writing a new novel, we need a new theme statement.Here is an initial cut.

Red Sonja, a Soviet spy, infiltrates
the X-plane programs at Edwards AFB as a test pilot’s administrative clerk,
learns about freedom, and is redeemed.

Would you like to write a novel that
a publisher will consider?Would you
like to write a novel that is published?How about one that sells?

Aegypt was published in 2008 by then
Capstone which became Oaktara publishing.Aegypt is a novel about a
French Foreign Legionnaire, Lieutenant Paul Bolang.Paul Bolang was a hero and soldier of the
Great World War—World War One.He came
from a military family and his father found him a place in the Paris
Garrison.Paul was not comfortable with
life in time of peace.He ran to the bosom
of the Foreign Legion to return to a world of fighting and bloodshed.Here is some information about Paul from the
novel:

He lingered long over the breakfast of
fresh croissants and coffee.The black
liquid filled his senses, and too easily, he let the early morning touch of it
along with the nicotine of his cigarette lull him into a languid peace.

The burning white of the table cloth and
napkins, the ragged dried flowers that graced the center of the small officer’s
table, and the taste of the strong coffee were too refined for this place of
easy death.And, Paul had seen too much
of death here to forget it so nonchalantly.Still, the thought didn’t stop his mind from wandering relaxed and
unconcerned.

Unfortunately, that was always when the
thoughts that brought him here came unbidden to his brain.Unlike Captain Ourain, he hadn’t been sent
here on a punishment tour.He
volunteered.It was too easy to say the
Military Bureau in Paris
became tiresome.It was harder to face
the truth, that he would much rather fight the hordes of nomads and bandits
than confront the boring day to day military operations in a peacetime army.

He liked command.He liked the pitch of battle, and he was very
good at it.After the end of the Great
War, when his father’s plans culminated in his appointment to an important and
honorable billet, he discovered the inactivity stifling.He was weary after the years of combat, but
he tasted blood, and found in military leadership, a power over men.He was intoxicated by battle and became heady
at the spilling of blood in justice.He
felt he had a power over evil, and he became an angel of vengeance over the
crimes of men.

Paul gradually came to himself.He held the coffee cup in a tense grip.He consciously relaxed his grip and set the
cup down gently.

The blood of men was like nicotine and
expresso; it existed to feed his lungs and senses with the musty scent of
death.He was good at it too.His men followed him to their deaths.Success in battle overwhelmed them.His confidence became theirs.His zeal was theirs.They basked in the power his expertise
brought.

When Paul was first assigned to FortSaint,
the outpost was almost overrun by the desert bandits.The Legionnaires were undisciplined and
surly.Their combat losses were astounding.The peoples of Tozeur and Nefta held the
Legionnaires in contempt.As was the
intention of the Legionnaire commander of Tunisia and the Foreign Bureau when
they assigned him, Paul changed all that.Paul had Sergeant Maurice le Boehm reassigned to the Fort.Paul worked with Sergeant le Boehm
before.They were military comrades of
over a hundred battles.Sergeant le
Boehm was a tough and merciless professional soldier.The Sergeant wielded an iron discipline that
molded the Legionnaires into a force Paul could lead to victory after
victory.With the keen supervision of
the Sergeant and the masterful leadership of the Lieutenant, now, no desert
force was equal to them.

Unlike Captain Ourain the men invested
their trust in Paul, and like the true officer Paul basked in it.His strength came from their open
worship.His approval was crisp and
heady to them.

His family would never understand.His father and father’s father all officers,
all military courtiers, who had never known blood, the feel of a man’s life in
their hands.He profaned them with his
embrace of a combat command.His father
couldn’t understand the secret of his change.His family couldn’t understand how he would choose the action of Tunisia over the promotions of Paris.

His parent’s letters came to him
monthly.They begged him to return and
spoke of sentiments and events he could barely understand anymore.His mother wrote of emotions Paul thought he
could never know again.His life had
become centered in one thing, the Foreign Legion and the responsibilities of
command.

Paul could congratulate himself.He brought the esteem of his men up to a
heady and overwhelming point.They were
interested now in success and not just survival.He brought their battle loses down to nearly
zero and increased their training to a fever pitch.They were a capable fighting force, now
feared by the bandits and for once respected by the Tunisian and nomadic
peoples who lived in the wastes surrounding the Chott Melrhir and Chott Djerid.

Paul was proud of his men and proud of
himself.His family was foolish to try
to tempt him to return to Paris;
this was his environment.It was the
essence of his self.

Paul Bolang is an archetype of a
perfect military officer.He is
dedicated to his profession and his way of life like few men.In this itself it should be obvious he is a
Romantic character.Almost all
archetypes are Romantic characters.Further, there is much more to Paul Bolang than what I gove in this
short piece from the novel; however, it should also be self-evident that Paul
Bolang is in opposition to his culture and society. Paul’s father found him a safe garrison
command in Paris, Paul chose to go the French Foreign Legion in Tunisia.Paul’s father was a military courtier, Paul
is wholly a military professional.Paul’s
father is a man of genteel quality.Paul
is a leader of men.Paul is in direct
opposition to the norms of his father’s and mother’s culture and society.This is a further indication that Paul is a
Romantic character.Paul is not a
pathetic character and can’t be made one.His is too powerful as a man and as a person.You can’t feel sorry for a man like Paul
Bolang.You can admire him.

Paul is a great example of a
Romantic character.This is the type of
character that most readers love.All
Romantic characters have faults some more prominent than others, and all
protagonists have a telic flaw that drives them and the novel.An author can never forget this.

About Me

L. D. Alford is a novelist whose writing explores with originality those cultures and societies we think we already know. His writing distinctively develops the connections between present events and history—he combines them with threads of reality that bring the past alive. L. D. Alford is familiar with technology and cultures—he is widely traveled and earned a B.S. in Chemistry from Pacific Lutheran University, an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Boston University, a Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering from The University of Dayton, and is a graduate of Air War College, Air Command and Staff College, and the USAF Test Pilot School. L. D. Alford is an author who combines intimate scientific and cultural knowledge into fiction worlds that breathe reality. He is the author of three historical fiction novels: Centurion, Aegypt, and The Second Mission, and three science fiction novels: The End of Honor, The Fox’s Honor, and A Season of Honor.